Conservative Election Plans
Making his first speech as chairman of the Conservative Party last Saturday Mr. Ralph Assheton gave the expected reminder that the time had come for clearing the decks for an electoral contest. Since the Labour and Liberal Parties intend to go to the country with their separate programmes, Mr. Assheton urged his fellow- Conservatives to put their party organisation in order. From now on we may expect a certain liveliness in the constituencies, where organisations of all the three parties will be getting their workers together, choosing their candidates, and hoisting their flags. In regard to the policy on which the Conservatives will stand Mr. Assheton recalled recent speeches of Mr. Eden and Mr. Lyttelton, and looked forward to the statement which the Prime Minister is to make early in the new year. On the negative side Mr. Assheton made it pretty clear where he thinks Conservatives will concentrate attack—they will attack collectivism as the enemy which threatens, not so much property, as liberty itself. On the constructive side, they are likely to claim as their own everything that has been done or promised by the National Government, since they can with some justice assert that all this has been done with their consent, while the other parties have only grudgingly accepted it in the absence of something better—better, that ,is, from their point of view. They will adopt the education, health, and social security programmes, and, beyond that, pin their faith on the restoration of trade without undue encroachments on private enterprise. But there is no doubt about what is their greatest asset, and no Con- servative will want to minimise it. Their leader is Mr. Churchill. There at the moment lies the supreme source of their strength, and in that will lie the cogency of their appeal to the country. All parties will declare their adherence to the war party and their determination to bring the war with Japan, like thai with Germany, to a swift conclusion. It is the strength of the Conservatives that their leader at the polls is identified in the minds of his countrymen with the unique and incomparable chieftain who has led the nation in the prosecution of war. And the election will not come till he has led it to victory.
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